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Friday, August 31, 2012

#BlogElul 13: Excuses {Guest Post}

I decided that I would invite friends to do a "guest post" here on Ima on and off the Bima during BlogElul. There were quite a few motivations - 1) writing daily posts on two blogs - whew! 2) encouraging non-bloggers or new bloggers to "get out there" and just do it and 3) to hear from other people! So I hope you enjoy them - there are a number of guest posts coming up in the next two weeks! Yay!

Today's guest post is from Rabbi Allison Vann, the spiritual leader of Suburban Temple-Kol Ami, in Beachwood, Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio). She
is married to Charlie Vann, and has the cutest little kindergartener, Isaac, and two dogs, Frankie
and Zeke. Follow her tweets @rabbivann.

I’m great at excuses. I
blamed not getting my sermons done for the High Holy Days on the fact
that my laptop was old. I ordered a new one. Now my excuse is that my
son started kindergarten.Our
ancient rabbis had a deep understanding of our psyche. We often give
credit to breakthrough thinkers such as Freud, or Jung- but credit is
due, in large part, I believe, to them. The Rabbis knew we needed Elul. Elul is about preparing for the High Holy Days. Elul helps make sure we don’t have so many excuses that we miss our chance.
The rabbis knew we are prone to making excuses. That when the work is
hard, or intimidating, or just plain old “have to”, it’s way easier to
make excuses. So we do. And
so we have Elul. To “come clean”--and know that when we have work to
do, and we’re not getting it done-then we’ve got even more work to do. So,
today-- if we’ve got so many excuses, let’s say ‘thank you’ to the
rabbis--for the opportunity to figure them out. And stop making them. The Jewish month of Elul, which precedes the High Holy Days, is
traditionally a time of renewal and reflection. It offers a chance for
spiritual preparation for the Days of Awe. It is traditional to begin
one’s preparation for the High Holy Days during this month with the
Selichot, the prayers of forgiveness. We look to begin the year with a
clean slate, starting anew, refreshed. All month, along with others,
I'll be blogging a thought or two for each day to help with the month of
preparation... I will be blogging here, and sharing #Elulgram photos on
the same themes at imabima.tumblr.com. Follow me on twitter @imabima for all the #BlogElul posts, not only mine but others' as well! Leave your blog Elul post in the linky below!

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What's an Ima? What's a Bima?

Ima is Hebrew for "mom."Bima is the platform from which a Jewish prayer service is led. Rabbis typically stand on the bima to lead services.I'm a rabbi and mama...sometimes I'm up on the bima and sometimes I'm not...(Want to email me? imabima (at) gmail.com)Want to hear the other guy's perspective? Check out my husband, the Abba Sababa.